To Think That Benedict Cumberbatch........

[LavenderRain]

Is a bit of a nob?
I get that actors don't want to be filmed and think its bad when people use mobiles in live theatre.
But its hardly 'mortifying' as he told his 'fans'
He wants to live in the real world, he may then understand the true meaning of mortifying.

Refreshing to see on the Same news item that a Beatles tribute band actively encourage people to film their show.

I would never use the word "mortifying" to describe something like the death of a child, it would be ridiculous to do so as it means causing someone to be embarrassed or ashamed.

Totally agree. I saw him a few months ago in this thing called 'Letters'. He was reading this really moving letter that had been written from the trenches in WW1.

He read a paragraph, then stopped, leant over the lecturn and said to this woman 'excuse me, but would you mind terribly not filming please? Thank you' EVER so politely but with the kind of expression that could freeze hell over. It was brilliant.

Does my head in when you're at a gig and you have all these screens up in your eyeline. I imagine for an actor performing in what is a pretty bloody demanding play such as Hamlet it is infuriating.

Agree with pp- I've never heard mortified about illness or death- I don't think that is the general useage.

It's 'mortifying' for him because an rsc audience don't typically whip out their mobiles during a performance, but he has brought in non-typical audience members who are fans of his. So he feels responsible for the audience members who are bringing down the tone of the performance and is therefore mortified.

It must have pissed off anyone sat behind one of these idiots who were filming - I wouldn't pay ££ to go and watch a play or concert through someone else's phone!
I went to see Rocky Horror a few years ago in Manchester and they had most of the cast in the lobby beforehand reminding people to keep their phones tucked away during the performance and the bloke playing Frank did actually tell someone to stop filming during the show.
It's got nothing to do with him showing off about being sexy and everything to do with him being aware that some of his more enthusiastic fans obviously have no manners!

What's more annoying is that he refered to I phones as 'funny little electronic things' what......what....patronising knob! He has to be the most ugly fawned over actor in history.

Yes it is true but he doesn't have to rub it in, does he?

I am mortified that I didn't realise hamlet was four hours long!

yy Lucille I thought that too, very patronising and affected. Ghastly luvvie.

Not a massive BC fan but he is right. Never understood the obsession with filming every moment on a mobile. For the most part it looks shit to anyone else when you play it back to show them.

Luckily, JohnFarleysRuskin, directors usually make quite big cuts to the text because they know audiences can't sit still for four hours. This production is apparently a brisk 2 1/2 hours.

Running time is just under two hours, then an interval then just under an hour again.

Balloonslayer you have summed it up brilliantly.

and yy to Lucille

Just say, please don't film, it's rude and distracting for all of us and your fellow theatre goers. No mortifying or funny electronic things.

If you want a nice photograph, buy a programme for heaven's sake!

Taking a picture outside the theatre by the posters, or even in the lobby is ok, but once the lights have gone down, phones should be away - if not until the end of the performance, at least the interval.

I think he's said it because the people causing problems are probably there because of him, so him asking will hopefully have the biggest impact.

He does occasionally sound slightly luvvie-ish though. Perhaps he thinks that's how his fans want to hear him/will respond best?

Ugh YABVU.

I think he's quite overrated as an actor (and as a heart throb) but I agree completely with him on this filming nonsense. It's bad enough at gigs but even worse at the theatre. Ruins the experience for those around them and those on stage. And you can't compare Hamlet to some crappy Beatles tribute musical which is aiming to re-create a boisterous gig feel.

If someone sitting next to me tried this they'd soon feel the sharp end of my elbow.

Sadly it was inevitable this would happen considering his weirdly obsessed fans.

OP you need to review your understanding of 'mortified'

I still think he has used the term incorrectly, even allowing for hyperbole.

To me mortified means being so horrendously embarrassed by something you are responsible for that you don't feel you can look anyone in the eye ever again, eg shat yourself at the Christmas party, had your child punch another in the face in front of the whole school etc. Having your theatrical performance impaired by people expressing such admiration for you that they are doing something socially unacceptable, and admittedly rather crass but not exactly hurting anyone, does not qualify for a reaction of mortification in my view, unless of course you are a frightful luvvie, which he sadly clearly is.

I can well imagine even a non luvvie actor being mortified if they had been the cause of negative off-stage attention.

He's just a tit, no one is saying that phones should be shining on his face during his performance but it's the way he goes about it. It's like the whole 'coloured' thing when talking about black actors, now I don't suspect for a moment that he's racist, just totally out of touch.....little electronic things indeed.....like he doesn't take pictures of his Oscar with his smart phone.....oh wait

I dint understand people taking photos or footage during a performance. DH and I saw Kevin Spacey in Clarence Darrow at the old Vic in the spring. Kev noticed someone holding up a mobile phone as its "theatre in the round". He stayed in character and said, pointing "You there! Yes, YOU! Stop that at once!" And then stared the guy out for ten seconds! I swear, he put the Fear of God in me, did Kevin.

It must be very distracting.

I wouldn't film in the theatre. Im surprised he could see the lights from the phones whilst on stage with the stage lights but if he says he can I have no evidence to contradict him.
When it comes to filming DC in their school plays im guilty and have no intention of stopping. How else do you get them to make you tea in their teenage years if you can't threaten to bring out the embarrassing photos or footage

He's not a nob for the reason you mentioned. But he is a nob.

I was at that performance. Just to put the clip in context of why he was pissed off (I think it's a combination of the stops and the filming): The first technical error was that the speakers didn't work (there was meant to be music playing before he started speaking) which caused a restart. The second was much worse as during a pivotal emotional speech a trapdoor failed to close which was dangerous for the actors so the stage manager walked on stage, tapped him on the shoulder and he had to stop mid-flow then restart after it was fixed. So to deal with that and then be distracted by a camera light, I can understand his irritation.

People have mentioned the fangirls being badly behaved but (other than the filming obviously) it was one of the best behaved theatre audiences I've seen in a while. There was rapt silence throughout from the moment the curtain rose.